Dumb Asphalt, Blood on the Comics Page.

Sense my last post, DC has answered a few questions on their relaunched comics universe.  Yes, Grant Morrison will get to continue with Batman Inc. and finish up the story he's been laying out in the Bat books for the last 6 years. (this won't happen until 2012, its rumored he'll be writing one of the relaunched Superman titles as well)  And some story elements from every title will be addressed. Sites like Newsarama have this better laid out and discuss the new series and status quot better then I can here.       

Yesterday I witnessed a car try and make a left turn from the middle lane, an SUV was coming up and honked, car had to stop, SUV couldn't slow in time: BAM.  Later the same day, I witnessed the left turn lane northbound and right tuen southbound of France and 78th feature accidents at the same time.  It's almost like one happened and the second set of drivers were gawking before smacking into each other.  Not to mention people gawking at the pressure breaks in the road from the heat.  And prehaps dumbest of all, Target had to remove the beach ball covers from the big red globes they have infront of their stores because people were kicking them.  I wish I was making that last one up. http://www.startribune.com/business/123262873.html  It just goes to prove the old Navajo saying: "Lawsuits are nature's punishment for situations meant to thin the herd that fail."  Peace to all. 

New Begining for Me. And DC?!?!

First, just got word from Park Nicollet, the biopsy on the big hunk came back negative.  Hooray. 

The new cast of 9021...I mean Justice League.

Now on to geek business:  DC Comics big cheeses Dan DiDio and Jim Lee announced that as of August 31st, they will be rebooting 52 titles with new number 1's and redesigned looks and a younger take on the characters while still telling tales "rooted in each character's legend" They're also throwing around buzz words like "contemporary" and "diverse", "modern", and "Real world themes and events".  All of this will come at the end of this summer's Flashpoint event in which the Flash and Booster Gold find themselves in an altered reality and must find out why it happened and how to fix it.  This is not the first time DC has tried this.  The first time was with 1985's Crisis on Infinite Earths, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crisis_on_Infinite_Earths  in which the DC multiverse (consisting of separate Earths with there own versions of each hero, unique heroes, and their own continuity/history) was merged together into one universe.  Afterward the histories of various characters were rebooted; the most successful were the "Big Three" (Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman) while others (Hawkman, the Justice League, Power Girl, Legion of Super Heroes) became convoluted messes.  The last 25 years has seen various other big events that were meant to fix continuity holes left over.  None of which really worked.  Many fans did not like the changes, and many became writers and artists.  Including Geoff Johns, who is DC Entertainment Chief Creative Officer and has made a Grail Quest out of undoing post crisis DC. 

Scott Tipton at Comics101( http://comics101.com/?page=C101 ) has some good questions about the while thing: 

"What does making the books more "modern and diverse" mean? The comics were already set in the present, and things were already kind of futuristic; I mean, I don't know about you, but I don't have a jetpack or a teleporter. And diverse? So will some characters be arbitrarily re-conceived as different ethnicities?  What does "real-world themes and events" mean? Fighting terrorism? A bad economy? Tornados? This just sounds like the kind of PR buzzwords people throw around in lieu of, you know, actual ideas.  The characters will be younger, according to DiDio? How will that work? If Bruce Wayne is, say, 25, now, does that make Dick Grayson 15 again? So is Tim Drake a toddler and Damian Wayne a zygote? Is the entire "legacy" aspect of DC's universe now gone, meaning Wally West, Donna Troy and Roy Harper are back to being teen sidekicks, and Bart Allen, Cassie Sandsmark and Connor Kent are just wiped away? If not, why not? And why do the characters need to be younger to appeal to readers? IRON MAN was pretty popular at the box office, and Tony Stark wasn't 21 years old. Marvel seems to sell an awful lot of Wolverine comics these days, too, and he's no spring chicken.  The stories will now be told for "today's audience"? As a longtime member of what was apparently, in the eyes of DC, "yesterday's audience," I can't help but resent that a little."


So really the whole thing comes across as a fan boy power trip.  Not realizing that many fans today will have the same reactions that they had 25 years ago.  Not to mention all the dangling story elements from various titles (many laid out by Johns himself in Brightest Day).  Added on is the new maneuver where issues will be available for download the same day the are on sale in stores.  Not sure how many retailers are on board for that.  I'm also interested in what the creators who had to end story lines before they were ready and not fully explore ideas they had for the future.  Especially Grant Morrison's plans in the Batman titles and James Robinson with Justice League. 

DC has been #2 to Marvel sense 2002.  This is around the time Marvel launched their "Ultimate" line: a separate universe from the main one where everything was started new in the 21st century.  The main comic universe still remained.  Both have been selling well in the last decade, and the Ultimate titles have done things and taken character/story turns the main Marvel universe couldn't.  Fans could take it or leave it, same with "Heroes Reborn" which had a similar theme but was only on four of their titles (and also involved Jim Lee).  DC has taken the all or nothing approach.  Time will tell if it works; whither or not it does, it's a given that 25 years from now, another group of fans turned creators will change it again.  And the circle will continue.....

I had Cancer?!?! Really?!?!?!

It has been 5 days sense having the hunk removed from my back and close to two weeks sense I was called by Dr. "Silent T" Tsang telling me I had Melanoma In Situs.  I made the choice to be proactive and had the recommended eye and mouth exams within a week (both came up clear).

What is still not sticking, both with me and friends and family, is that a Melanoma is cancer.  Even one caught at the earliest point like this one.  It might be hard to comprehend because I'm not going through treatment beyond having skin removed and the exam schedule.  I'm not having cemo or radiation.  That might be the thing, cause that's what comes to mind when one thinks of cancer treatment.  No baldness or overwhelming fatigue.  My family has been told to get full body exams as there is a genetic component to melanoma.  They don't seem to be taking it all the seriously.  Mom is at least going to ask for a referral from her regular doc. for a dermatologist visit.  Dad, who had a benign mole removed 15 or so years go, and Tim don't seem as fully serious about it.  I don't sit down and have heart to heart talks with them like Tia does with here sister and mom, we're just not those types; yet it seems that might have to be what happens.  They need to understand that had I waited even a month longer, I would been in more serious treatment, and that this IS potentially FATAL.  The high survival rate is for this stage, the higher the stage, the less the chances you'll make it.  Especially for Tim as Melanoma is in the top 5 of killers in our age range.          

Above is what is on my back right now.  It's not as bad as just before they removed the piece. 

Be safe. 

-John

Stage Zero

Well, my adventures in medicine continue.  Turns out the biopsy results have come in and the mole was melanoma intuits. Not sure if the last word is right, but it is Latin for "in place".  The other term is Stage Zero.  Meaning that the melanoma was at the start and only in the first layer of skin.  The earliest that this can be caught.  Everything won't be known until after my surgery tomorrow.  As it stands right now I'm O.K.  97% survival rate.

On a lighter note: Vilification Tennis Presents: Beyond ThunderCageDome DeathMatch at Bryant Lake Bowl.  10pm $12.00.  This Friday!!! Be there!!!!

-John 

So This Happened....

Went in for a physical a couple weeks ago.  In addition to the normal "need to lose weight and control cholesterol better" stuff, a mole on my back was proclaimed "too dark" and a dermatology appointment was set up.  So last Saturday I go in with the wife, they give me a quick look over, then scrap (that's right SCRAP) the mole off and send it in for testing saying it will be 7-14 days.  4 days later I get a call from Dr. Sang, he said he saw enough under the microscope to justify going ahead like I had melanoma (It sounds like it was caught as early as they could catch it this close to Stage 1.) He told me not to panic, not to look stuff up online cause it would only freak me out, that this isn't Izzy on Grey's Anatomy.  This Wednesday I'm getting an all over extra throe body exam (including the naughty bits) followed on Thursday by removal of a 5mm area around the original spot that also goes down through all the layers of skin.  This hunk will be looked at and tested.  I've already had my mouth given an all clear as far as this stuff goes and my eyes are getting checked soon as well.  I guess there are types of blemishes that can show up in both spots.   

Tia was not a happy Panda about all this.  Her being exhausted from work didn't help.  I'm nervous more then worried.  I actually have a positive outlook on this which is a first for me.  It's going to be alright.  I've never thought that about anything before; a glass half empty type.  Only time will tell if I'm right or in denial.  Based on Sang's reaction I think I'm right.  If it was serious, I'd have been in the hospital that day if not the next; the hunk already removed and my body being kemo'd.  The fact they said this week would be OK. for procedures and exams  gets me upbeat.

That being said,  I'll still be at Beyond ThunderCageDome Death Match at Bryant Lake Bowl this Friday at 10pm.  $12.00
(I love shameless self promotion. :-) 

Stay frosty,
-John

Post Rapture Wrap Up/ Rant #1

Well, we're all still here.  The will of Oprah to have her last show has over powered the will of the cosmos to squish us like bugs.  Many believers spent as much as $135 a pop to have their pets looked after.  Law suits are pending. (and sense it was mainly atheists who started the pet sitting up it will get even more heated).  As far as I know there were no mass suicides or the like,(though the writer of the song "You Light Up My Life" was found dead with his heard wrapped in a bag)http://news.blogs.cnn.com/2011/05/22/police-songwriter-for-you-light-up-my-life-found-dead-in-suicide/
  the NBA/NHL playoffs continue unabated, and tornado season has started in Minnesota. 

By the way, vote "NO" on the amendment to ban gay marriage in the state.  One, it violates basic human rights.  Second, it's a smoke screen to distract us from the fact that the Government hasn't kept their promise to create jobs.  Every tea party candidate campaigned on jobs, jobs, jobs, economy, fiscal responsibility, small gov., etc.  This amendment won't do any of that, nor will it fix the economy or pay off the 5 BILLION dollar state debt. 

I need a break....

Armageddon Bored

Armageddon is not just a movie from the '90's with unbelievable loudness that looks like it was edited by a chimpanzee on Red Bull.  It is another name for the end of the world (or the world as we know it). Ragnarok, Apocalypse, Judgement Day.  As we speak there is a wave going around that this will be happening on Saturday, and will continue for the next five months.  All of this is based on numerology using info from various Bible passages.

Ok, first, you'd think Evangelicals would remember the same book says that only "The Chief" will know the time and day of the big blowout.  Apparently Jesus will be just as shocked as the rest of us.  

I was raised Methodist.  What that means is that I look at the Bible as metaphorical.  Maybe these events happened, maybe they didn't.  And if they did they probable were very different then described.  What matters is the moral of the story, what it is trying to say.(this is based on Jesus' method of using fables in his teaching)  Meaning, that it ain't a history book people.   And when you look at historical texts on the era in which the various books were written, Revelations can be viewed as a metaphorical chronicle of the first 100 years of Christianity as well as a dyer Doomsday prediction.  You make the call!

Then there's the whole Mayan 2012 thing, which any of the Mayan people still around will tell you is being misread.  And the guy who wrote the Left Behind books says it won't be this weekend.  All and all, I doubt they'll be zombies, earthquakes, or anything of the like tomorrow.

See ya Sunday!